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Mass transfer associated with chloritization in the hydrothermal alteration process of granitic pluton

  • Takashi Yuguchi ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Takanobu Matsuki , Yuya Izumino , Eiji Sasao and Tadao Nishiyama
Published/Copyright: July 3, 2021
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 106 Issue 7

Abstract

This study, along with our previous studies (Yuguchi et al. 2015, 2019a), reveals the hydrothermal alteration processes in a pluton, with a focus on the mass transfer between minerals and hydrothermal fluid. It also depicts the sequential variations in fluid chemistry as alteration progresses. Hydrothermal alteration of the Toki granite in Tono, Japan—the study area of this research—progressed through the successive processes of chloritization, plagioclase alteration, and precipitation of a carbonate. This paper describes the alteration processes of hornblende chloritization, K-feldspar chloritization, and the formation of fracture-filling chlorite through petrography and mineral chemistry. A set of singular value decomposition analyses was conducted to obtain reaction equations for the chloritization processes, which facilitates the quantitative assessment of mass transfer between the reactant and product minerals, and the inflow and outflow of components through the hydrothermal fluid. Several types of chloritization reactions (including biotite chloritization) can be characterized by their reaction with the inflow of Al3+, Fe2+, Mn2+, and Mg2+ and the outflow of H4SiO4, Ca2+, K+, and F–.

The age and thermal conditions of hornblende chloritization (64–54 Ma and 330–190 °C), K-feldspar chloritization (68–53 Ma and 350–210 °C), and precipitation of fracture-filling chlorite (66 and 63 Ma, 340 and 320 °C) overlap with those of biotite chloritization (68–51 Ma and 350–180 °C). The chloritization reactions (this study and Yuguchi et al. 2015) and plagioclase alteration (Yuguchi et al. 2019a) represent sequential variations in fluid chemistry at temporal conditions from 68 to 51 Ma as the temperature decreased from 350 to 180 °C. As the alteration proceeds, the concentrations of aluminum, iron, manganese, and magnesium ions in the hydrothermal fluid decrease gradually, and those of calcium, hydrogen, and fluorine ions increase gradually.

Hornblende chloritization is associated with formation of magnetite and ilmenite. The thermal conditions of the hydrothermal fluid yielding the formation of magnetite and ilmenite can be interpreted by the chemical characteristics of chlorite around their associated minerals. The formation temperature of magnetite was higher than that of ilmenite, implying a decrease in oxygen fugacity in the hydrothermal fluid with the decrease in temperature from 280–310 to 220–250 °C.

Keywords: Hydrothermal alteration; chloritization; dissolution and precipitation; mass transfer; singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis

Acknowledgments and Funding

Constructive reviews by two anonymous reviewers and T. Mueller (associated editor) were very helpful in revising the manuscript. The authors thank the researchers of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory and the Toki Research Institute of Isotope Geology and Geochronology, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, for the discussions and suggestions. We also thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing. This work was financially supported by a JSPS KAKENHI for Young Scientists [grant number 16H06138] and by a grant from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to TY.

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Received: 2019-11-04
Accepted: 2020-09-23
Published Online: 2021-07-03
Published in Print: 2021-07-27

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2021-7353
Keywords for this article
Hydrothermal alteration; chloritization; dissolution and precipitation; mass transfer; singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Tourmaline composition and boron isotope signature as a tracer of magmatic-hydrothermal processes
  2. Deformation and strength of mantle relevant garnets: Implications for the subduction of basaltic-rich crust
  3. Ultra-reduced phases in ophiolites cannot come from Earth’s mantle
  4. Olivine from aillikites in the Tarim large igneous province as a window into mantle metasomatism and multi-stage magma evolution
  5. Precise determination of the effect of temperature on the density of solid and liquid iron, nickel, and tin
  6. Timescales of crystal mush mobilization in the Bárðarbunga-Veiðivötn volcanic system based on olivine diffusion chronometry
  7. Chemical reactions in the Fe2SiO4-D2 system with a variable deuterium content at 7.5 GPa
  8. High-pressure syntheses and crystal structure analyses of a new low-density CaFe2O4-related and CaTi2O4-type MgAl2O4 phases
  9. Phase diagram and thermal expansion of orthopyroxene-, clinopyroxene-, and ilmenite-structured MgGeO3
  10. Mass transfer associated with chloritization in the hydrothermal alteration process of granitic pluton
  11. Nonlinear effects of hydration on high-pressure sound velocities of rhyolitic glasses
  12. Crystal chemistry and high-temperature vibrational spectra of humite and norbergite: Fluorine and titanium in humite-group minerals
  13. Exomorphism of jacobsite precipitates in bixbyite single crystals from the Thomas Range in Utah
  14. Ferropyrosmalite-bearing fluid inclusions in the North Patagonian Andes metasedimentary basement, Argentina: A record of regional metasomatism
  15. Memorial of Alden Bliss Carpenter (1936–2019)
  16. New Mineral Names
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